Anxiety Medication which ones are good?

My thyroid has gotten very far off balance causing severe anxiety and I am going through menopause. I started on bio-identical hormone cream last night. I am driving my friends, family and doctors away. While I am not a fan of anti-anxiety medicines, I feel as though I am going to need some so I don't lose everyone around me. Does anyone know of any good ones that don't have too many side effects? I am getting to a point where I am not being able to function and I just want back into my life again!

I'm not one to promote any type of "benzo" anxiety drug! been there done that! and you don't want the side effects that come when one trys to stop! even while on them, you develop "tolerance" and the symptoms are far worse than what you took them for! high bp, anxiety, depression, panic to name a few! withdrawal is HELL. It took me a yr off of them to get normal! and I was on the lowest dose, thought I wouldn't get "hooked", nope. So- you need to find out why you're having such anxiety? what are your thyroid levels? female hormone levels? If your doctor isn't testing all t levels or hormones, find another doctor that will. I haven't had anxiety attacks since ridding all anxiety meds, sleeping pills and bp is low. Once I got on thyroid meds and the right dose and my body adjusted, well, I'm feeling pretty normal. People would be surprised at the drugs they take for so many things, are in fact "benzo's", Klonopin, Ativan, valium, xanax, and even the muscle relxers, nerve pain meds, have horrid side effects and build up tolerance, thus constant withdrawal type feelings. Hope you can find the route cause and forgo these dangerous meds.

I used Buspar. With me, it had zero side effects. It reduced my panic attacks and - get this- I quit smoking while I was on it. (And yes, it was Buspar, not Welbutrin which I know developed a reputation for helping people quit smoking.) Anyway, Buspar won't make you feel high and you won't get dependent on it.

How long does it take Buspar to work? I have been on it 2 weeks and it does take the edge off a bit but 20-30 minutes after taking it, I get a "buzz" on. I get light-headed, dizzy, even nauseaous. That lasts from one half hour to 1 hour and then I am fine. I am also seeing a little more anger than usual. Sometimes I think it does not last long enough. Some times I think it does not work at all.

I took Ativan and it was very helpful. I only took it prn because I didn't want to take it on a scheduled dosage and worry about addiction. I had zero problems when I stopped taking it since I didn't take it routinely. Because I had general anxiety with adrenal insufficiency, I asked my MD for Lexapro. The prescribed dose is 10 mg, I have taken only 5 mg. for about 6 weeks with zero side-effects but it does seem to help with the anxiety. I have not had the weight gain or decreased libido typically associated with it, but again, I am taking half the prescribed dose. It is doubtful I will go up to the prescribed dose of 10 mg. since 5 mg. is working fine for me.

For me the best has been Xanax. I tried Lexipro...just one tablet from a sample packet the doctor gave me and I ended up in the ER with Extreme burning pain going through my nervous system. It felt like it almost killed me. I don't think it is safe at all. I have since been told that SSRIs are not best for people with Graves disease. I also think I had such a bad reaction to the Lexipro, because I was already reacting to my thyroid meds being switched to generic and didn't realize it at the time.

My thyroid has gotten very far off balance causing severe anxiety and I am going through menopause. I started on bio-identical hormone cream last night. I am driving my friends, family and doctors away. While I am not a fan of anti-anxiety medicines, I feel as though I am going to need some so I don't lose everyone around me. Does anyone know of any good ones that don't have too many side effects? I am getting to a point where I am not being able to function and I just want back into my life again!

Ativan .5 and Valium has worked for a year, Ativan about 20X each month (this is very low dosage) and Valium when things get weird only 4X per month - find your own dosage but you may do very well at 2Mg Valium while I now use 10mg. I have had every antidepresent and they all make me sick and weird, these two are easy on my system. I do not have an addictive personality and I obviously take "as needed" so I don't have any worries about addction. I would rather be mentally healthy now anyway. Your GP can order these for you.

Thank you for your responses. I am back to normal now and ended up taking Lexapro for three days. I didn't like the way it made me feel,so I stopped taking it after three days only. I never did take anything. I found a new Endocrinologist and now we are "fine tuning" my thyroid meds. That was a horrible experience that I would never
Wish on anyone!

I ended up on Xanax XR that was good for the very short term but it was horrible the longer I took it. This med should be restricted to only home use for extremely short duration. It affects your ability to think.